Ralph had painted two signs and fastened them in prominent places on
the wall. One read: "One thing at a time"; the other, "A place for
everything, and everything in its place."
"Those are very old-fashioned," he said, "but they are none the less
absolutely true. Many boys fail to accomplish anything in tool work
because they do not heed the first, and more time is wasted than we
ever realize, particularly among mechanics, by failing to observe the
second. It often seems a waste of time to put a tool or piece of stock
away in a definite place, but, on the other hand, one often spends ten
times as many minutes in looking for a thing as he would putting it in
its place where it could be found instantly."
"What's the answer?" said Harry absent-mindedly.
"The answer is that we will make a rack for our lumber before we do
anything else.
"It need not be very fine work, but it will make our shop much neater,
if the surfaces of the wood are planed instead of being left rough, and
to give you practice in planing and to develop your muscles, I am going
to let you do most of the planing, while I lay out the work."
The rack as finally constructed is shown in Fig. 93. The shop was not
sheathed on the inside, the framework or studding being exposed. The
short cross pieces were nailed to the studding with ten-penny wire
nails, but where they joined the uprights they were let into the latter
to a depth of 1/2 inch before being nailed. Harry wanted to know what
this was for, and Ralph explained that if the cross pieces were simply
nailed to the uprights, all the weight would be carried by the nails.
By letting or "gaining" them part way into the uprights, the weight was
carried by the latter without so much strain on the nails.
"Then why don't you let them into the wall studs too?" asked Harry.
"Because the studs are in position and we couldn't saw them out without
breaking through the outside of the building; therefore we are obliged
simply to nail them on."
[Illustration: Fig. 93. The lumber rack]
Four of the uprights were spaced three feet apart, and held in place
at top and bottom by blocks nailed to the ceiling and floor. A
carpenter would have simply "toe-nailed" them by driving nails at an
angle through the ends of the uprights into the floor, but the boys
were not yet skilled in carpenters' methods. An ideal lumber rack is
made of galvanized iron pipe. It is indestructible, fire-proof, rather
expensive, and the joints are regular pipe fitter's joints, elbows,
tees, crosses, and floor plates.
This was beyond our boys' pocket-book, as it would have required the
services of a pipe fitter.
One of the uprights laid out and partly cut is shown at _a_, the
openings having been taken out with cross cut saw and chisel.
On one of the upper tiers the cross pieces were made eight inches
longer than the others, and where they extended beyond the front of the
rack pieces of pine 6 × 2 × 7/8 inches were nailed to the ends, making
a convenient hook for hanging hand screws, which are always in the way
on the floor. It also made a very convenient shelf for storing narrow
waste strips of lumber, which should not be destroyed, as one can never
tell when they will be needed.
In the case of a rack made of iron pipe, the ends of these long cross
pieces need be only ordinary pipe elbows.
The labour of building a lumber rack was much heavier than anything
the boys had done before, but it brought the larger muscles into play,
seemed like real carpenter work, and was an excellent preparation for
the finer tool work to follow. A boy who has never carried out a piece
of large work successfully cannot realize the satisfaction of looking
at a really good piece of construction and being able to say, "I made
that all myself!"
[Illustration: Fig. 94. First wind vane]
Ralph suggested that one or two things more were needed to make their
equipment ship-shape--one was a tool cabinet, and another was some
arrangement for storing small pieces of stock; but as both of these
required considerable tool practice, they were recorded in a notebook
as among the things to be done later on.
It was agreed that the shop needed a vane to show the direction of the
wind, and the boys' design for this is shown at Fig. 94. It included a
weather vane and windmill.
The whole combination required five pieces of wood. The two short
pieces, 7 inches long by 1 inch square, were first dressed to size, cut
out and halved together as shown. They were then taken apart and cut to
the lines shown, with a knife, making propeller blades similar to those
made for the aeroplane. When both were finished, they were again put
together, and a hole drilled through the centre a trifle larger than a
flat-head wire nail 2-1/2 inches long. This nail is to hold the mill
to the horizontal piece. The nail is to be tight in this horizontal
piece, but the windmill must revolve freely about the nail. It is for
this reason that the hole in the mill must be slightly larger than the
diameter of the nail.
The horizontal piece is bevelled on one end with the knife and has a
1/4-inch slot sawed out at the other. The slot is to receive the wind
vane. The vane was sawed out of 1/4-inch wood, fitted into the slot and
nailed with brads.
When all these parts were assembled, it was necessary to find the
centre of gravity of the whole combination, as it is important that it
be perfectly balanced.
To find the correct point, a light string was slipped under the
horizontal piece and moved back and forth until the vane hung
horizontally. The spot where the string touched the wood was marked
with a pencil and a 1/4-inch hole drilled at this point for the pivot.
A corresponding hole was drilled 3 inches deep into the bevelled end of
the standard.
A piece of 1/4-inch maple dowel was used as a pivot, the upper end
being sand-papered until the vane swung freely. The boys found that
by placing a metal washer between the vane and its standard, much of
the friction was removed. A wire nail driven into the standard through
a hole drilled in the horizontal piece would have answered the same
purpose as the dowel. When the centre of gravity is not found for the
pivot, the vane is apt to tilt forward or backward and not only look
badly, but bring considerable friction on one end, so that it will not
revolve freely with the wind.